Already Have Full-Arch Implants?
You Do Not Have to Start Over.
A worn acrylic hybrid, a cracked zirconia arch, teeth that never looked right, or a practice that has since closed. In most cases the implants are fine and it is the prosthesis that has disappointed you — and a new bridge can often be built onto the implants you already have, with no new surgery.
Medically reviewed by Ozayr Mahomed, DMD (Dr. Oz) · Updated October 2026
The surgery worked. The teeth are the problem.
A large share of the full-arch patients who contact us already have implants. They were treated somewhere else, the implants integrated and held, and what has gone wrong is the thing bolted on top of them.
That is a different problem from being edentulous, and it deserves a different conversation. You are not starting from nothing. You are carrying an asset — osseointegrated implants, which are the expensive and irreversible part — and asking what can be built on it.
Why patients come to us to convert
- Weight and bulk. The single most common complaint we hear about monolithic zirconia arches: “it feels like a brick.” A titanium-framed Malo bridge is dramatically lighter.
- Aesthetics. Uniform, opaque, obviously-fake teeth — most noticeable in photographs and at conversational distance. Individual crowns restore the translucency and separation of natural teeth.
- A fractured or chipped prosthesis. If a monolithic zirconia arch has already cracked, you are facing a full remake regardless. That is the moment to remake it into something serviceable, so you never face this decision again.
- A worn acrylic hybrid. Acrylic teeth on the original hybrid design wear, stain and pick up odour over the years. Converting is the definitive upgrade path rather than another patch.
- Stability and bite. A new, passively fitting milled bar can improve how evenly your bite loads across the implants, which protects screws, prosthesis and bone.
- The practice that placed them has closed. Common, and not an obstacle. We identify your implant brand and platform from the scan and the components, which is what lets us order the right parts. You do not need the original records.
Many general dentists are reluctant to work on another practice's full-arch case. They did not place it, they may not hold the driver for that implant system, and they carry the liability if something goes wrong. We do full-arch implant work and nothing else, which is why this lands with us.
How a conversion actually runs
For a clean conversion the whole thing is prosthetic. No incisions, no healing, no implants placed.
1. Free evaluation of what you already have
A 3D CBCT scan, a bone-level assessment, a stability check of every implant, and identification of your implant brand and platform. This visit tells us — and you — exactly what you are working with. It costs nothing, there is no deposit, and nothing is placed or removed.
2. Records
Your current bridge is unscrewed, your implants and soft tissue are digitally scanned, and your bite, smile line and tooth display are recorded. Your current bridge goes back on the same visit.
3. Design and try-in
A new titanium bar is designed to fit your implants passively, and you preview the tooth setup before anything is final — shape, shade, and how much gum shows when you smile.
4. Delivery
The bar is torqued to your implants, individual crowns are mounted to their thimbles, and the bite is refined. If your case needs a transitional prosthesis along the way, our in-house lab produces fixed provisionals in as little as 48 hours. You are never without teeth.
It depends entirely on the implants you already have
A Malo bridge is only as good as the foundation under it, and we will not build a premium prosthesis onto a compromised one. Whether your case converts, and how, comes down to what the scan shows.
Good candidates. Implants that are stable, surrounded by healthy bone, reasonably positioned and spread across the arch, on a platform we can restore. Most well-executed All-on-4 and All-on-6 cases fall here, and conversion is a purely prosthetic, non-surgical process.
Cases that need work first. Significant bone loss or peri-implantitis, a failing or mobile implant, too few implants for the arch, or positions and angulations that cannot properly support a bar. These are treatable more often than patients expect — but they are treated first, and they are priced separately.
You will see your own scan either way, and you will get a straight answer. Occasionally that answer is that conversion is not in your best interest, and we would rather tell you that at a free visit than halfway through a case.
Failing implants, peri-implantitis and revision
Some patients arrive with a problem below the prosthesis rather than in it: gums that bleed or recede around the implants, a bad taste or smell, bone loss on a radiograph, an implant that has gone loose, or one that has already been lost.
That is periodontal territory, and it is Dr. Panos Afouxenides's. He is a periodontist and implant surgeon, faculty-affiliated with the Pikos Institute, and his work covers the treatment of peri-implantitis, bone grafting, sinus augmentation and ridge augmentation — which is to say, the things a failing implant case actually needs.
Depending on what the scan shows, the paths are: treat the infection and keep the implant; remove a failed implant and replace it; add implants to an arch that never had enough; or, where the upper jaw has lost too much bone to hold a conventional implant at all, anchor into the cheekbone instead with zygomatic implants, which avoid grafting and the four to six months of healing a graft requires.
We are not going to promise that every failing case is salvageable, because it is not true. What we will do is show you the imaging and tell you which one yours is.
What is warranted on a converted case
This question gets fudged often enough that it is worth answering plainly.
The bridge we make is covered. A Malo bridge fabricated here carries our published lifetime term against cracks and chips, on the same maintenance conditions as any other patient: the no-charge visit at four to six months, annual maintenance at $250, and no nicotine. Because the crowns are individually mounted, a chipped crown is replaced on its own rather than triggering a remake of the arch — which is what makes a lifetime term affordable to offer and cheap to use.
The implants underneath are not. We did not place them, we cannot vouch for how they were placed, and our surgical coverage does not extend to them. If we remove and replace one ourselves, that is quoted in writing as its own piece of work. We would rather draw the line where it honestly falls than advertise a coverage we could not stand behind when it was called on.
The full warranty terms are published, including what voids them.
What a conversion costs
Conversion cases are quoted after the free evaluation, because the right plan genuinely depends on what is already in your mouth. What does not vary is that the quote you get is the price you pay, in writing, before anything starts.
A straightforward prosthetic conversion onto healthy, well-positioned implants is priced against our published Malo bridge figure: $17,500 per arch through 31 December 2026, rising to $25,000 per arch on 1 January 2027. Work needed on the implants themselves — treating infection, replacing a failed implant, adding implants to an arch that has too few — is quoted separately and itemised.
The full cost breakdown lists every published price and what each one includes, and implants and insurance covers what a plan typically does and does not pay for.
Converting an existing case — FAQ
Bring us the case you already have.
A free evaluation includes a 3D CBCT scan, a review of every implant you already have, and a written plan — a $400 value, no deposit, no obligation. If another practice has told you nothing can be done, bring that plan too.